


I'm a Fuse, and I've Met My Match

by Kalcifer



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Anachronistic, Drabble Sequence, F/F, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22564993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalcifer/pseuds/Kalcifer
Summary: Vicuna struggles to figure out who she is without Grace. It would be easier if Territory didn't keep getting in her way.
Relationships: Territory Jazz Jr./Vicuna
Kudos: 7





	I'm a Fuse, and I've Met My Match

**Author's Note:**

> it's femslash february, i don't need to explain myself

The first thing Vicuna says to her is, “You’re a disgrace.” It’s been building for weeks. She stole a Divine and doesn’t understand how to direct it, hasn’t even accepted the most basic gift a Divine has to give. There’s no justification for her continued affiliation with it.

Territory Jazz Jr. just laughs. “Figures you’d say that,” she says. “But what do you have to measure against, these days?”

Even now, Vicuna strives to be the model of grace, so she resists the urge to break Territory’s arm. Instead she knocks her legs out from under her. She’s being merciful.

* * *

Vicuna didn’t join the Righteous Vanguard. Her memory is too long to allow that, even under its new leadership. She couldn’t go back to the Diaspora, though, couldn’t stand being the Candidate who outlived her Divine.

So when her last remaining family took a job with Aria Joie, Vicuna tagged along, after a week of carefully presented arguments and justifications. Kobus still has more Loyalty than they want to admit.

It’s not so bad, here. She’s got free run of the place, room and board provided for, and people mostly know to stay out of her way.

Then there’s Territory.

* * *

Territory goes down hard, but she doesn’t stay there. She gets back to her feet with a feral grin, like this was what she’d been hoping for. That’s okay. Vicuna’s needed someone to take her frustrations out on since before she even got here.

“All right,” Territory says. “If that’s how you want to play this. Show me that losing that mech of yours hasn’t blunted your edge.”

The taunt is obvious, but Vicuna refuses to let this upstart refer to Grace as simply a “mech”. No wonder she hasn’t properly pledged herself to her own Divine.

Vicuna rushes forward.

* * *

Territory isn’t around much. Joie has too much sense to waste a Candidate, even one so ill-suited for the responsibility as Territory. Vicuna doesn’t know what her missions are, and doesn’t care to ask. She knows too much about Territory as it is.

She knows the way Territory watches her from across the commissary, eyes sharp and glittering with what Vicuna can only assume is malicious glee. She knows the silent challenge in her face when they meet in the halls and Territory refuses to step aside. And she knows better than to take the bait.

Most of the time.

* * *

Vicuna’s fury isn’t as blind as she pretends. As she charges, she’s watching Territory, trying to get a sense of her fighting style. Territory is clearly doing the same.

That’s fine. It’s an excuse to use the more elaborate feints and strikes she doesn’t normally bother with. She’s showing off, but she gets the sense Territory is too.

Suddenly Territory straightens. “It’s been fun,” she says. “We should do this again some time.”

Just like that, she walks off. Vicuna composes herself as best she can. She should be better than this pettiness. She shouldn’t allow herself to enjoy it.

* * *

Vicuna’s not an idiot. She knows she’s a charity case. She’s contributing nothing, willfully so, and yet they continue to let her eat their food and use their systems and drain their resources. She doesn’t want to know how Kobus convinced Joie to allow it. She can pretend to have some dignity that way.

She’s unaccustomed to being idle. Even before Candidacy, she was preparing for her campaign, making herself the perfect representative of the Diaspora. Now she’s carried out her term. She can rest.

There’s nothing to focus on but the silence in her head where Grace once lived.

* * *

They’re in a supply room, both breathing hard after their latest fight. Vicuna doesn’t know why Territory keeps challenging her, but she refuses to back down.

Territory’s sticking around, which is unusual, and maybe it’s the surprise that makes Vicuna ask, “What are they like?”

Thankfully, Territory doesn’t ask for clarification. “Defiance is… they’re the feeling that no one can make me do anything. They’re freedom.”

Vicuna flinches, remembering Freedom and her inability to make them stay. “I see,” she says. She stands. She might thank Territory, but she’s not sure.

For once, she’s the one to walk away first.

* * *

Even when they’re not sparring, Territory is a tactile person. Vicuna is used to being untouchable, a hero and a servant and a weapon. She’s never prepared for the way Territory slings an arm over her shoulders as she explains her latest exploits.

That’s not to say she minds it. She probably should, but it’s comfortable, a simple warmth that seems to spread through her whole body. She catches herself thinking about it at strange moments, thinking about Territory when she’s not around.

Territory is a distraction, but right now, Vicuna thinks that might not be such a bad thing.

* * *

“Life’s weird,” Territory announces out of nowhere, coming up behind Vicuna as she wanders the base. “I still can’t believe it some days. Like, I’m working for the woman who helped kill my father, and most of the time I don’t even care.” She shrugs. “Then again, I think I may have tried to kill her girlfriend, so we’re probably even.”

“My sibling killed my Divine,” Vicuna offers, the words leaving her mouth more easily than she could have imagined all those months ago. “Politics are complicated.”

“So are relationships,” Territory says, and there’s nothing Vicuna can add to that.

* * *

Vicuna is pushing the boundaries of Joie's lenience, but when she walks to the hangar with her head held high, no one stops her. They don’t need to, because she freezes as soon as she sees the Riggers. It’s been so long since she’s piloted anything. She doesn’t know if she can do it alone anymore.

But that doesn’t matter, because she needs to do something. She can’t rely on the Vanguard’s charity forever.

She climbs into the Rigger. Its inside is as unfamiliar as its outside. Her chest feels tight with emotion, and she thinks it might be relief.


End file.
